9 AUGUST 1919, Page 1

Quite apart from the personal issue and the present example,

we want to see a precedent made for the adequate remuneration of our statesmen, including of course special rewards for special and emergency services. In an age when, most happily as we think, we are often, nay, usually, going to be governed by poor men, it is absolute madness to pay them inadequately and give them a sense of injustice. The possession of great power means great temptations, and great temptations are almost overwhelming when poor men are in high place—unless they are so well paid that they feel there would be a double shame and dishonour in the betrayal of their trust. They must be given no excuse for saying : "I had such need for expenditure of a public kind, and was so badly paid, that I was obliged to look elsewhere."